TABLE OF CONTENTS |
FRONT PAGE
| NEXT ARTICLE |
PREVIOUS ARTICLE |
UNC HOMEPAGE
Dirk Frankenberg, an internationally known professor of marine sciences at
Carolina who spent the last 10 years of his career writing books about North
Carolina's natural beauty and helping to preserve it, died June 9 of a heart
attack at his Hillsborough home. He was 62.
A native of Concord, Mass., Frankenberg led the University's Institute of
Marine Sciences in Morehead City from 1980 to 1993 and its Marine Sciences
Curriculum from 1974 to 1990.
Conrad Neumann, a professor of marine sciences at Carolina, persuaded
Frankenberg to take a faculty position with the University.
"Dirk succeeded me as director of marine sciences and worked both very hard and
very successfully to transform the marine lab in Morehead City into a major
research facility with much closer ties to the University in Chapel Hill,"
Neumann said. "The man was full of energy and enthusiasm and popular with
students. He worked hard at his teaching, and his passing is a great loss for
the University and the state."
Author of The Nature of the Outer Banks and The Nature of North Carolina's
Southern Coast, Frankenberg recently finished editing the new UNC Press book,
Exploring North Carolina's Natural Areas. In it, he and a large group of N.C.
naturalists introduced state residents and visitors to parks, nature preserves
and hiking trails stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Appalachian
Mountains.
Frankenberg earned his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College in 1959 and
his master's and Ph.D. degrees at Emory University in 1960 and 1962,
respectively. Before joining Carolina in 1974, he served on the University of
Georgia faculty and was director of the National Science Foundation's ocean
sciences division from 1978 to 1980.
He also served on numerous boards and commissions including the N.C. Marine
Fisheries Commission, the N.C. Blue Ribbon Advisory Commission on Oysters and
as chair of the Governor's Advisory Committee on the North Carolina State
Museum of Natural Sciences. Among his scientific interests were carbon in
estuaries, and among his educational efforts were promoting scientific careers
among minorities and science and nature education over the Internet.
Frankenberg is survived by his wife Susan, his daughter Elizabeth of Los
Angeles, his son Eben of Seattle and two grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, his family asks that contributions be made to the N.C.
State Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh.
TABLE OF CONTENTS |
FRONT PAGE
| NEXT ARTICLE |
PREVIOUS ARTICLE |
UNC HOMEPAGE